THE largest tourism event in the world is due to take place at the ITB Berlin in Germany from March 6 to 10.

Among the throng of some 110,000 visitors and 10,000 exhibitors representing global tourism, a Tallaght man will be working to ensure businesses from the Irish tourist industry are getting the most bang for their marketing buck.

Keith Farrell from Kilnamanagh

Kilnamanagh native Keith Farrell, is the Ireland Account Manager at Dortmund company Holidayguru.ie, a travel blog, podcast and online magazine which provides deals for city breaks, flights and hotels.

The site uses traditional paid placements as well as affiliate marketing – something Keith feels the Irish tourism industry has been slow to take advantage of.

“Affiliate marketing is a way for travel agents or any company involved in the tourism industry to get their message out without paying big bucks,” said Keith.

“It is something we are a little bit behind in the Irish tourism industry.”

Affiliates earn a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s products - a popular tactic to drive sales and generate online revenue.

“We still use traditional marketing techniques, this guarantees eyes on articles with insights to back it up,” said Keith, who will be talking to travel companies from across the globe at the event about industry trends and their business model.

“We have a huge following on Facebook of over 300,000, with 400,000 unique visitors and close to 20,000 Instagram followers.”

Five Irish people are employed in the team of 200 at Holidayguru.ie, which Keith says, acts as a kind of “middleman”.

“We source and give the best deals for people in the Irish market, put it into nice bite sized articles. Ultimately, we want to drive traffic onto our partners site. There is nothing we can’t do for Irish tourism companies.”

A former English teacher, Keith completed a degree in Politics at Maynooth University, and was happy to move back to Germany last July, having previously studied there and taken to the environment.

After the Berlin trade fair, Keith will enjoy a working trip back home for the Irish Travel Trade Show on March 21 at the RDS.

“I was recently in Madrid, Spain is the number one Irish destination, and Amsterdam. Anyone out there thinking of getting into tourism, I would highly recommend it.

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